


i can taste the summer in your smile

by space_dev



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Developing Relationship, Drinking & Talking, Established Relationship, F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Bar, Gay Panic, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Chloe Valentine, Pansexual Brooke Lohst, Pinkberry, Pinkberry is OTP change my mind, Pre-Relationship, Prom, Road Trip, Sapphic Queens Of Summer, Summer Vacation, They both think the other is a beautiful goddess basically, This is 93 percent fluff, Trans Jeremy, Whoever guesses where the quality drops off considerably first wins a prize, Yes this is 8000 words of Chloe talking about how pretty Brooke is, longfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-03 20:56:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15826782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/space_dev/pseuds/space_dev
Summary: A eulogy, of sorts, in the form of a road trip, flashbacks, and the progression of Brooke and Chloe's relationship.





	i can taste the summer in your smile

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Summer Fruit](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15698211) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 
  * Inspired by [My Mother’s Car](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15790587) by [Lacy_Star](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacy_Star/pseuds/Lacy_Star). 



> Is it a little late for a summer vacation fic?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> Do I care in the slightest? 
> 
> No.
> 
> TW for drinking, dysphoria, and canon-typical cursing

Brooke woke up early to find her hand entangled in Chloe's under the sheets, which she delicately released so she could get dressed, and retrieving a thin silvery bracelet that had slipped off her wrist in sleep.

She didn't pay much attention to what she was putting on, the beige bra, the flowy pink shirt, the blue boy shorts, the khaki shorts, no shoes, and then she climbed over the front seats, unlocking the car that they'd slept in, and quietly opening the driver's side door to climb out, and softly locking and shutting it behind her.

She walked around to the hood of the car and climbed on the smooth, cool metal, resting slightly on the windshield, and settling there.

Her hands, with fresh blue and green nails, found their way up to her scalp, and down the length of tightly woven braid from last night. She found the hair tie and took it off, pushing it onto her wrist with the various bracelets she always wore, and threaded her hands into the plait of golden hair, undoing it, and letting the blonde waves fall around her shoulders, the soft morning breeze blow it back.

She settled against the windshield, no phone, playing with a beaded bracelet as she stared out into the pale blue morning sky, paying no mind to the rising sun behind her.

Chloe woke up a little later to find Brooke's side of the bed empty but still warm, the scent of her strawberry deodorant lingering in her wake. She smiled at the sight of her girlfriend's back against the windshield and hurried to dress herself, green tank top, black Bermuda shorts, sneakers, her hair brushed and pulled up in a tight bun.

She slipped out of the car from the passenger side, not bothering to lock it behind her, and stared.

Brooke was staring out at the sky, the fresh sunlight turning her long hair gold and showing off the auburn highlights, her skin fresh from yesterday afternoon's shower, her green eyes bright and full of happiness and wonderment.

Chloe climbed up on the silver hood of the car with her, and threaded a hand into Brooke's hair, let the other one just slightly rest on her opposite cheek, and kissed her softly. She tasted strawberry chapstick and morning freshness and love.

Brooke kissed back wholeheartedly yet gently, pushing her lips impossibly closer to Chloe's. She felt genuine adoration and love in her partner, felt devotion careful and knowing and perfect, perfect.

When they pulled away, Chloe couldn't help but gaze at Brooke, and Brooke the same way. Chloe's hair was nice and soft and poofy in the bun, her blue eyes wide, her knowing smile graceful and soft.

"I don't know what god I ever saved to deserve you, Brooke," Chloe said softly, though they were the only ones here, nobody could hear them, nobody could interfere, yet they both felt an odd, thin veil cascading over the place, and they wouldn't dare disturb it.

"I love you so, so much. No metaphor will ever be able to convey how much," Brooke answered, tracing Chloe's lips intimately with her fingertips.

They stayed comfortably silent, sitting on the hood of that silver 2012 Toyota Sienna as the sun rose, one of Chloe's arms finding it's way around the small of Brooke's back, one of Brooke's resting on Chloe's shoulder, until they knew the Walmart two miles away was open and they needed to get on the road.

Why, might you ask, were they parked at a campground in nowhere Rhode Island in mid-June? Well, it had all begun one day in the cafeteria.

 

* * *

 

"So what's everyone doing over summer vacation?" Jenna asked casually. It was a Tuesday in April, Sloppy Joe day, and Jeremy, Chloe, Rich, and Christine were stuck with them. Sloppy Joes were the worst food the cafeteria had to offer.

"Oh, I'm going to visit some relatives in Kentucky," Jake answered.

"Wait, you're Southern?" Jeremy had asked.

"Naw, but my mom's family is."

"I'm going to theatre camp in Maine for a week and a half, and then I'm visiting family in China with my parents," Christine put in.

"I'm going to the Philippines with my folks again," Michael added.

"I have relatives in Portland, I think we're gonna fly out there in July," said Rich.

"I'm going up to Boston to see my aunt and cousins," said Jenna

"I think I'm just gonna hang around town, me and dad don't have anything planned," Jeremy said.

"I don't have anything planned either," Chloe said regretfully.

"Yeah, ditto that," Brooke added.

"What I really wanted to do this summer," Christine began, "But, I mean, China's great and so is theatre camp, I love this theatre camp! I wanted to do a road trip around the entire continental United States. I read this article once, this guy mapped out a route around the whole place with a suggested stop in all of the states."

"Hey, maybe we could do that, Brooke, you and I, if we don't have anything planned anyway," Chloe suggested.

Jeremy pouted. "What about me?"

"No, we're gonna have Summer Girlfriend Bonding Time, Jer, you can suffer alone," Brooke said jokingly. She knew from many a tale told at that very lunch table that being trans in summer was awful, and she was sympathetic to that.

"Rude," Jeremy groaned. "Not to put a damper on things, because you guys are really excited, but I'm kinda dreading summer. Sure, school is shit, but so is heat and humidity, and just... blegh."

Michael reached over and squeezed Jeremy's shoulder. "Don't worry, bro, I'm kinda dreading it too, not because I don't love the Philippines and my family, but because of that 12 hour time change. It's shit going into it, it's shit when you wanna FaceTime someone in the US, and it's shit coming out of it."

"I hate the bus ride up to camp, it's ten hours in a hot sticky bus. Sometimes the kids sing the whole time, which is fine for like, half an hour, and then you just wanna sleep or something," Christine added.

"Enough negativity, let's focus on the fact that Brooke and Chloe are going on a road trip across the US for Christine!" Jenna cried, smacking the table.

"We literally just suggested it, Jenna, kinda as a joke," Chloe pointed out.

"Actually, Chlo, if we don't have anything else going on in the first place, I think it could be fun! We can use my minivan, make some sort of bed in the backseat so we're not spending a million bucks on motels, follow the route that Christine mentioned, take turns driving," Brooke suggested.

"I wouldn't be opposed to it, I guess... it might be interesting," Chloe said, a little hesitantly. "But won't the car get pretty hot?"

"I can loan you some fans, my moms have like, thirty between the two of them, and I have at least three, and they only use a couple on a daily basis, plus we'll be gone all of June and most of July," Michael suggested.

"That might work," Chloe said with a smile slowly forming as she warmed up to the idea. A summer driving across the country with her favourite person! I mean, sure, there's the heat and stuff, but simply the presence of Brooke would balance that out.

"Maybe we really should," Chloe added, now with a big grin.

"Yeah, babe," Brooke smiled, giving Chloe what was intended to be a quick peck on the lips, but as they pulled away, Chloe grabbed her cheeks and pulled her back with such force that Brooke fell onto Chloe, and Chloe onto the bench, Rich and Jenna scooting over just in time so that Rich wouldn't be mauled by Chloe's head and Jenna by Rich.

"Jesus, get a room!" Michael called, and Brooke cackled into Chloe's lips.

"You totally, like, busted my boob though, Brookie," Chloe mentioned.

"God built in the punishment," Brooke smiled.

"What's that mean?" Christine asked.

Brooke got off of Chloe and Chloe sat up and scooched back over to her previous spot so rich and Jenna could sit back down. "My mom always said it when I did something stupid as a kid. Stumbling after kicking too many pieces of gravel in the park? God built in the punishment. Falling off the rock wall on the playground because I tried to hang upside down by my knees? God built it in."

Michael snorted so hard Coke came up his nose.

"Jesus, that hurts like a bitch!" He choked, fanning under his nostrils.

Jenna, Jeremy, Brooke, and Rich simultaneously donated napkins.

When Michael had recovered, he asked, "So you like, tried to hang off a rock wall on the playground by your knees? Explain."

 

* * *

 

"Next stop, Gooseberry Beach!" Brooke cried, propping her feet up on the dashboard, rolling down her window, and cranking up the stereo.

"Brookie, it's a podcast. A history podcast. On Princess Khutulun," Chloe all but screamed over the melodic sounds of Holly Frye and Tracie V. Wilson and the wind, turning it down a bit to be heard as well.

"Yeah, why're we listening to this, anyway? It's my day for the Bluetooth, anyways," Brooke responded, turning it back down further.

"I think I was listening to it last night, after you fell asleep. Oh well, take your phone, put something on," Chloe said.

It took a couple minutes, but soon, Brooke was in Spotify, and after checking what her Spotify friends were listening to, "Rich has been binging Hamilton, I think Christine had something to do with that, and - speak of the devil, she's been listening to Waitress." she was scrolling through her playlists. "God, I have, like, a million playlists. I need to clean out my Spotify."

"No, don't, at least half of those are stuff you've made me," Chloe gasped.

"I should at least organise them, Jesus. Oh, here it is. Shuffle. Go. C'mon, Spotty Fly, you can do it."

"Spotty Fly?" Chloe snorted.

"Yes. Oh, there it goes."

Hayley Kiyoko suddenly came through the speakers.

"Oh my lord, Brooke, this is the one with Kehlani, right? The one where they're on a road trip in the music video?"

"Ye-up. I compiled a three-hour road trip themed playlist. I figure, this can be the theme song of the Great Lohst-Valentine Road Trip of 2018, since we're crazy sapphics anyway."

"Sure, but it has to be Valentine-Lohst, or it sounds like you lost your valentine."

"It sounds like that when you say it the other way, too," Brooke protested.

Chloe reached over and turned up the music. "What I need, what I need, what I need, is for you to be sure nah nah nah, be sure nah nah nah, be sure nah nah nah," she sang.

* * *

 

They were sprawled out on Chloe's bed, surrounded by laptops, phones, notebooks, and road atlases.

"See, I don't really wanna do Mount Rushmore," Chloe said.

"Why not?"

"It's stolen land from Native Americans, land they were promised in a treaty, and plus, those guys were mostly racist and sexist. Plus plus, parking is kinda pricey, at least for our Midwestern budget."

"Okay, well then, we have to stop in De Smet."

"What's that?"

"Oh my lord, Chloe Valentine. That's where Laura Ingalls lived, at one point. I think from On The Shores of Silver Lake to The First Four Years. The homestead is there, and there's a whole museum."

"That sounds pretty cool! Okay, so let's see, if we go to De Smet," Chloe paused to find it on the Midwestern tab of Google Maps and connect it to their North Dakota stop, "So that's six hours from the Laura Ingalls place to the Peace Gardens, and then eleven hours to Glacier National Park, then nine to Mount Rainer. But then, it's only two hours and forty-five minutes to Portland, and then ten to San Francisco, but we pass through Salem and Sacramento on the way, plus, it's California, I'm sure we can find places."

"I guess that the West is gonna be the place of the longest drives, but I think we make up for it in the South and New England. Okay. What state is next?"

"Nevada. Las Vegas. That's... nine hours, from San Francisco, so long as we steer clear of LA, we can always go there some other time. Then it's Arizona, what're we doing in Arizona?"

* * *

 

Gooseberry Beach was mediocre, as beaches go, and too crowded. They'd stayed for a couple hours, Brooke had rented a surfboard and surfed for like... fifteen minutes, and then they'd gotten shitty burgers and snowcones and then left.

Now, it had been been a few days, and they were in Ohio now, on their way to Detroit, after driving through New York State and Pennsylvania nonstop and visiting the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (also mediocre.)

They had just gone through the drive-through at the small-town McDonald's, and were unpacking their food.

"Remember the Turkey Incident, Chlo?" Brooke asked.

"The who-what?"

Brooke gasped. "I forgot, you were out sick that day! Oh my lord, Chloe."

"Enlighten me, then. What was the Turkey Incident?"

* * *

 

It was a Thursday, Green Bean Casserole Day, and Michael had brought a ziplock bag of turkey, a ziplock bag of provolone cheese, bag of lettuce, some mayo packets, a plastic knife, and a loaf of sub bread.

When Jenna asked why Michael hadn't just made the sandwich rather than have to make it at the table, he said that he hadn't wanted to get food poisoning from the mayo if it sat in a hot paper bag for a couple hours.

He was making his sandwich, and was almost done, he just had to put the turkey and then mayo on and he'd be done.

He unzipped the bag with the turkey and began rolling up the meat and tucking the rolls into the bread.

"Why're you doing it like that?" Jeremy had asked.

"Doesn't everyone do it like that?" Michael countered.

Brooke had shaken her head. "Honey, it doesn't work like that. You ever gone to Subway? Ever even seen someone make a sandwich?"

Then, Rich leaned reached across the table and took a piece of turkey from the bag, and as he sat back down, he asked, "Bro, can I steal a piece of turkey?"

"You obviously don't need my permission," Michael had said.

Rich set it on his lunchtray and carefully rolled it into a small, tight cylinder, and you've gotta understand, much tighter than Michael had been. It was about the thickness of a pencil.

And then, no joke, he had put it under his nose, and snorted the whole thing up.

* * *

 

"Oh my god," Chloe laughed. It was a good thing that she wasn't driving, because she was laughing entirely too hard to be safe at the wheel. As it was, Brooke was laughing at the memory, but she'd already laughed over it many times, so she wasn't quite cackling like Chloe.

"But wait! There's more!"

* * *

 

So after Rich snorted it up, everyone just stared at him, in shock. And then a moment later, he opened his mouth and pulled something out.

It was the roll of turkey, still mostly intact.

At that point, Jenna, Jake, and Michael were just staring at him in surprised shock and horror, but Christine and Jeremy were laughing so hard, they could hardly breathe.

After everyone recovered, Jenna asked Rich if it'd hurt, like snorting up milk or Coke.

He'd looked her dead in the eye and said in the gravest voice he could muster, "It was like silk. Too smooth to catch or hurt."

* * *

 

The only pretty thing about Iowa, Chloe decided, was Brooke.

Iowa was pretty much entirely composed of cornfields, with the occasional soybeans or cotton, but mostly corn, and god, was there so much corn. And it got old really fast.

They were driving from Des Moines to Milwaukee, a five and a half hour drive, and not even Chloe's podcast on pansexuality could make this not so dull. Nothing to see, nobody on the roads, just her and Brooke.

Brooke, with her windblown hair listening intently to the podcast while buried in a copy of Les Miserables, one of the required summer reading titles that she'd brought with her, citing the long drives and the fact that she'd only have a week to read them all if she waited until they got back. She was about halfway through, and watching her turn the pages of the book, watching her twist her hair absentmindedly, seeing her eyes darting over lines.

Too bad she was driving, and could only spare her gorgeous girlfriend brief glances.

And then, she had an idea.

She suddenly pulled over, parked the car, paused the podcast, unbuckled her seatbelt, and twisted around in her seat and blindly felt around under her seat until she found the strap of her camera bag, and tugged it back to shore as she sat back up.

Brooke, for her part, was staring at her, and god, Chloe could just stare into those green eyes forever, couldn't she? Deep, emerald greens, catching the afternoon sunlight, with flecks of chestnut brown.

"We're having a photo shoot," Chloe said determinedly.

"Here? In the middle of nowhere? On the side of the highway? By corn?" Brooke asked incredulously.

"Yup. Now, go sit cross-legged with your book by that corn. I don't think I can capture your beauty with just a Nikon camera, but hell, I'm gonna try."

Brooke blushed, but she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out.

After taking a couple shots of Brooke now artificially buried in her big book by the corn, ignoring the dry heat and hot wind beating down on them, Chloe had her stand on the road ("It's flat, so we'll see if someone's coming long before they get here, and I'll yell at you," Chloe reassured her.) and pose in various ways, trying to capture the way the sunlight caught at Brooke's hair, the way Brooke stood, and then, Brooke came over.

"Your turn. You're beautiful too, you know," she smiled, her right hand reaching up to release Chloe's bun and then arranging the medium-length curly brunette locks.

So that's what they were doing when a red pickup truck pulled over behind their van and a tall-ish man in a cowboy hat got out.

"Y'all havin' a photoshoot in the middle of Interstate 80?" He asked, stepping towards them.

Brooke, having just taken a picture, eeped a cry of surprise and jumped a little, but Chloe, unfazed, turned towards him.

"Yep. We'll get off the road for you to get through, don't worry," she said, already picking her way to the side of the road.

"No, no," he said, holding up his hands. "I don't need to be back in Wisconsin for a couple days, I just came down for my brother's wedding, I'll take a couple pictures of y'all, if y'all want."

Brooke and Chloe glanced at each other, and Brooke shrugged, and Chloe turned back to the guy. "If it's not any trouble.."

"No, I don't mind," he said.

So Brooke handed him the camera, and he had them stand in the middle of the left lane, and pose like they were laughing and talking in various ways, then, one of them holding hands over the white lines painted in the middle of the road, in a way that made them silhouettes, walking off into the sunset together.

"So, where are y'all headed?" He asked, after that particular spot.

"We're heading to Milwaukee, but we're on a road trip around the continental United States," Brooke said.

"Oh, that's cool! I did one of those when I was a teen with my girlfriend, now wife, we had lots of fun."

"That's awfully sweet. When did you get married?" Chloe asked.

"Thirty years ago. We were real young, but after the trip, we just knew. Even though we were going to separate colleges."

"Maybe we'll end up like that by the end of this," Brooke said, smiling at Chloe.

"Are y'all dating?" He asked.

They glanced at each other. He'd been nice so far, but of course, that could change once they told him, but it's not like they'd be in Wisconsin long, or for awhile after.

"Yeah. Almost a year, now."

"That's real cool! Say, I was thinking, I could take a few more pictures, of y'all kissing, if that's okay. I was thinking of it as I was takin' pictures, and my gaydar was goin' off like crazy."

"Are you..." Chloe trailed off.

"Bisexual."

"That's so awesome! We never expected to meet a fellow in the middle of Iowa, did we, Chlo?"

"No, not at all. It's nice to see someone like us out in the wild."

"Right? So, those pictures."

* * *

 

By the time they'd exchanged Facebook and Twitter handles and driven away, Brooke still in the passenger seat, but now with Chloe's camera plugged into her laptop on her lap rather than Les Mis, it was almost 6:00. They'd taken a bunch of couple-ish pictures after that, and it was fun.

The nice man, as it turned out, was Bob Harvey, and he was from Alabama, explaining that Southern twang and accent. He'd moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin with his wife and three kids three years ago.

"Oh, Chlo, these pictures... they're so good. It's all so pretty, especially considering they were literally taken in the middle of Iowa on I-80. There's a Flying J in two exits, wanna stop, refuel, take a piss, get dinner, and look at these, decide what we're putting on Instagram?"

"Yeah. Are they really all that beautiful, Brookie?"

"Well... compared to you, they're terrible," Brooke said. "I haven't been diligent enough in telling you how beautiful you are, lately, and I want to fix that."

"Oh, Brooke..." Chloe trailed off.

"So I'm starting now. Guess what, hon? You're radiant. And beautiful. Like a... well, don't get offended please, but you're ice to outsiders but a beautiful radiant rainbow when you're just yourself and with people you show your true colours too."

"Well, you're a literal ball of sunshine. You're always glowing, and smiling, and laughing, and whenever your eyes or hair catch the sunlight, it's... its mesmerising. You're amazing, and not just in appearance."

"Are we having a compliment war?"

Chloe giggled. "I guess we are. Hey, where are we stopping tonight?"

"Oh, we can find a Walmart when we feel like stopping and just park near the back."

* * *

 

"So, how are we gonna make a bed back here?" Chloe asked.

She was sitting on the bumper of the car on a warm day in early May, after school. The back was open, and Brooke was sitting cross-legged on her mom's lawn, and with the way it was parked, they were only a couple feet apart.

"Well, do you have one of those foam pads that you put on your mattress?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah."

"So do I. So we'll take both of those out, and then put in... um, we can open up my camp sleeping bag like a blanket, lay it out on top, put a couple more cushy blankets or pillows or something on top of that, put a fitted sheet over it all, and then tuck in your flat sheet and just add in blankets."

"Everyone on Reddit just makes a platform, and then we can store clothes and stuff under it, in laundry baskets or something," Chloe mentioned.

"I mean, I guess we could do that, and maybe later, sell it on Craigslist or something, because why would we use it again? Lemme see if I can find an Instructable or something."

"Okay, I'll look too."

Only a couple minutes passed before Brooke announced her find.

"We've got three hours, wanna make a run to the Home Depot? We're gonna need a bunch of wood, but I think we can do this. Girl power."

"Lesbian power."

"I'm pan, Chlo."

"That's kinda irrelevant?"

"No, it's not!"

The trip to Home Depot was mostly uneventful. They got there, got one of those big blue carts, bought a tape measure, measured the back of the van with the seats down twice, went back in, found what they needed, paid, and left.

Back in the driveway, they put it together and subsequently nearly took apart Brooke's head and Chloe's left wrist, but pretty soon, there was a nice platform bed in Brooke's car.

Chloe tweeted out a picture of it, with Brooke lying on her stomach on top of it, captioning it with: _Made a bed for the back of @space_brookie 's car!! Love my gf!! <3 <3 ^-^_

"Christine asks how we made it," Chloe mentioned, a couple minutes later.

"Hold on, I see, I'll answer that one," Brooke said.

_@galinda_canigula we went to @HomeDepot and followed an instructable. was an Experience_

* * *

 

"That was mildly amazing," Brooke gasped.

They'd just left Discovery World in Milwaukee, a science and technology museum, and Brooke, the more left-brained of the pair, had been absolutely mesmerised by everything. As was tradition, Chloe was mesmerised by Brooke. The museum had been really cool, don't get that wrong, and Chloe had gotten a lot of cute pictures of Brooke, selfies with both of them, and even some of herself for their Great Lohst-Valentine Road Trip of 2018 photo album, and, like Instagram.

"So, lunch?" Chloe suggested.

Brooke nodded. "I think there's food trucks down the block, on Chestnut."

"Okay, Navigator Brooke, lead the way!"

"Navigator Brooke?" She giggled. "Fine, come along, Co-Navigator Chloe!"

"Co-Navigator?"

"You're the one who came up with Navigator Brooke."

"We should be equals in this relationship, regardless."

"Fine. We are Senior Navigators Lohst and Valentine!"

"I really don't like how our last names go together, especially since everything else does."

"Yeah, same. I'm taking your last name when we get married."

"I don't know, Chloe Lohst sounds pretty good."

"The whole problem is my name. Put anything next to it, and they have gone missing."

"Ah, well. Look, here's the food trucks. What're you in the mood for?"

"Look, there's a Mexican food one, want a beef enchilada?"

"You can read that? It's all in Spanish."

"Yup. Beef enchiladas?"

"Sure. You order, I ordered our last three fast food meals."

Brooke strode into the small line confidently, and when she reached the front, Chloe pulled out her phone and started recording from a wooden picnic table near the truck.

" _Hola_!" Brooke greeted cheerfully.

" _Hola, señorita. ¿Qué puedo conseguirte?"_ asked the young man who was standing behind the counter, in the truck.

" _Dos enchiladas de carne y una orden de tacos de pescado, por favor."_

" _Ya viene. ¿Puedo tener un nombre para la orden?"_

_"Ay, Brooke."_

_"Lo tengo. ¿Su total es doce cincuenta y tres, efectivo o tarjeta?"_

_"Tarjeta de débito."_

_"Bien, ahora nuestra confiable tableta, María, se hará cargo."_ He turned the tablet around to face Brooke, who tapped some things Chloe couldn't see, took out her debit card, put it in, tapped something, then removed it and put it back in her wallet.

_"Llamaremos a su nombre cuando su pedido esté listo. ¡Que tengas un buen día!"_

_"Ay, igualmente,"_ Brooke smiled, and headed over to Chloe.

"That was amazing. I never knew you spoke Spanish!" She exclaimed.

"Eight years of public school Spanish lessons and three of Duolingo and Memrise have payed off. Also, I saw you recording that."

"That's awesome, and it's going on Instagram."

"Brooke!"

The man from behind the counter held two paper bags, and Brooke stood up. "That's us."

She went over, grabbed the bags, exchanged a few words with him, and then she was back.

"Entertain me by reading what our friends are doing, I haven't checked any social media in three days," she said, plopping down across from Chloe with her tacos.

"Hold on," Chloe said, unwrapping her food. "Okay. Christine and her theatre camp put on Chicago two days ago. You saw when she got cast as Velma, right?"

"Yeah. Any videos?"

"They put up one of Cell Block Tango, and another of All That Jazz. The girl who plays Roxie, some Lindsey Bell, put up one of her singing Nowadays."

"Got it."

"Five minutes ago, she - Christine, not Lindsey - posted this." Chloe turned the phone to Brooke, showing her a selfie of Christine with her baby sister, fondly nicknamed Peaches, legally Piper.

_5 hr layover @ LAX!! I'll be in China in about 18 hours!!!!!!!!! @lindibell, I swear to god if you yeet that slushie at @mary_eden i will yeet MYSELF across the us_

The next post was a continuation, of sorts.

_speaking of yeet, @chloevalentina & @space_brookie where r u 2? haven't heard from you and wanna know how #GreatValentineLohstUSRoadTrip2018 is goin_

_@galinda_canigula we're eating lunch in milwakee!!!! have fun in china!!!!_

"Quick, Brookie, get in the picture, I have to prove that we're alive."

* * *

 They were in the car now, and a musical that Christine had introduced them to, In The Heights, was playing. The two of them had made a silent pledge to pick characters when listening to a musical, and not to switch. For this particular one, Chloe was Vanessa, Benny, Carla, Camila, Sonny, and Abuela Claudia, and Brooke was Nina, Usnavi, Grafitti Pete, Kevin, Daniela, and Piragua Guy.

The song playing, Blackout, faded out, and was replaced by Sunrise. Their mutual favourite song.

Brooke's hand found its way across the car to Chloe's, which was resting on her lap as she drove this long stretch of highway with the other hand.

Chloe looked at her quickly; she had to keep her attention on the road so she didn't crash into one of Minnesota's famous 10,000 lakes, even though, similar to Iowa, nobody was on the road, but that could also be credited to the fact that it was 1 AM.

The only reason they hadn't yet stopped was because they hadn't left Milwaukee until 10 PM, electing to walk around town, talking about things of little to no importance, and getting dinner at some small restaurant on the outskirts of town, and they wanted to get to Minneapolis, or a Walmart just outside it before stopping for the night anyway, so they could do the Mall of America and get the drive to Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium knocked out by the afternoon, do the zoo, and subsequently knock out two states in one day. Afterwards, they'd just sleep in another Walmart, this one outside of Omaha, and drive to South Dakota the next morning, do the Ingalls Homstead after lunch, and then drive six and a half hours to get to North Dakota in time for Chloe's 18th birthday.

That day was a matter of delicate importance, the only day fully planned out on the whole trip. They planned to FaceTime Chloe's parents and grandma in the morning from the back of the van, go to the International Peace Garden right when it opened, then stop at a Dairy Queen drive through and get Blizzards while driving to Billings, Montana, an eight and a half hour drive, eat some food in the car on the way at some point, and go to the gay bar located there in Billings, the main attraction of the day.

"We can celebrate being eighteen, celebrate our queerness, and celebrate the fact that we sacrificed eight hours of our time rather than go to North Dakota's only gay bar, in a relatively unsafe town for women."

Brooke, having celebrated the big one-eight in March, would not drink, they decided, and instead, be the designated driver, since it was Chloe's birthday anyway.

Anyways, the Sunrise intro music played, and parted slightly for Nina's words, sung both by Mandy Gonzalez and Brooke.

Chloe glanced at Brooke and smiled softly, singing her own lines; "I think I'm ready."

"Okay," Brooke smiled. "Here we go."

" _Esquína_."

"Corner."

" _Tienda_."

"Store."

" _Bombilla_."

"Lightbulb."

"You're sure?"

"I'm... sure."

The song was their favourite for a reason. It was so intimate, so loving, tender, and soft.

Brooke turned in her seat and clasped another hand over Chloe's as they got into a more vocal section of the song, staring adoringly up at her girlfriend, the light of her life, the person who kept her going daily, without fail.

Chloe, for her part, couldn't spare Brooke more than a glance every now and then, but what she saw, what she saw in those green eyes, was love, pure, plain, and simple. Unconditional, neverendingalwaystherebeautifulbeautiful love. That's what she saw in those green eyes, the ones with the gold flecks catching the sun setting ahead of them, and it wasn't a sunrise, as they sang, but a sunset. And yet, it was barely nine 'o clock for their song, if even. Their sun wasn't setting anytime soon.

And it was all too pretty.

"I don't know..." she choked on her words a bit.

_"Yo no sé."_

"What to do." A look to Brooke. It was all she could do not burst into tears, and she could see Brooke crying already.

_"Qué hacer."_

"Now that I've found you."

_"Ahora que te encontré."_

* * *

 

"Brooke?" Michael asked

"Yes?"

It was another day at school. Another lunch period. Monday, chili and Fritos.

"There's something in your binder. The purple one."

Indeed, there was a small, pale pink envelope with her name written in peacock green, a swirly and sharp cursive, tucked in between her essay on Aretha Franklin and the essay on Janet Jackson (the English teacher had made them do an essay a week for two months, February through March, on famous performers.) It was slim, and she slipped a relatively useless bobby pin from her 1940s updo, one that was 'just in case' and slid it between the flap and envelope, opening it neatly and quickly, then slipping it back in with one hand, the other unfolding the thick piece of baby blue stationery.

_"Behind the school, 2:30."_

It was written in that same peacock green script, the colour going perfectly with the paper and envelope, the handwriting unrecognisable, in some form of beautiful calligraphy. Whomever it was, she'd keep this note forever, it was so damn pretty.

Chloe, Rich, and Jenna sat down with their trays (Monday was the only day Chloe got the hot lunch, since the chili was actually really good, unlike the rest of the meals,) talking about how Norman and Wendy supposedly got it on in the janitor's closet.

"Ooh, what's that?" Jenna asked, pointing to the note Brooke was holding.

"Someone with really fancy handwriting wants to meet me at the back of the school later," she explained.

"Cool."

The conversation drifted away from Brooke's mysterious note and Norman and Wendy, and near the end of the period, Brooke remembered something. "Oh, Chloe, we still on for Pinkberry at 3?"

"Yep."

The bell rung, they went to class, and soon, it was two thirty, and Brooke was standing alone behind the school, a piece of paper burning a hole in her pocket.

And then she saw the pale pink envelope on the sidewalk.

" _Pinkberry_ ," it read.

* * *

 

"Welcome to De Smet. Homstead first, or lunch?"

"Homestead."

 

* * *

 

"Chlo?"

"Oh, hey, Brooke!"

Chloe was sitting on a stool at a high table, alone. "I already ordered, your usual," she said as Brooke slid into the seat across from her.

"The note guy wasn't behind the school, but there was another note on the sidewalk. It just said Pinkberry. That's really weird, don't you think?"

"Yeah, um.."

"Special order for Table 13! Good luck, girl!" A lady in a Pinkberry uniform handed Chloe two frozen yougurts, what appeared to be a watermelon for Chloe and a raspberry white chocolate for Brooke, but...

On the whipped cream, there was a single word written in pink frosting.

_Prom?_

"You're... you're the note guy?"

"Um... yeah?"

Brooke was silent for awhile.

"YES! Yes, yes, YES! But listen, I was gonna ask you too!"

"What?!"

"Yeah, 's why I invited you to Pinkberry today. See?" She pulled out a little watercolour on a little canvas with the word prom written in tiny letters at the bottom right corner.

"Oh my god, Brooke, it's so pretty! And yes! Yes!"

 

* * *

 

Chloe was drunk, very drunk, and she knew she was in Montana, and she knew she was dancing with a girl in a red dress, but she wasn't Brooke.

Brooke, who was watching from a table, sipping on a fizzy brown drink that she'd think was a beer if she didn't know any better. No, it was actually a Dr. Pepper, from a can that she'd smuggled in in her purse.

She was drunk, and she was crying, and then Brooke was next to her.

"Chlo? Chloe? Babe, you okay?"

Brooke ignored the dirty looks Garciá was sending her way, and ushered Chloe back to the table and gently pushed her into the booth.

"Babe, you are really drunk," Brooke said with a soft laugh and sweet smile. "You wanna go?"

"She wasn't you. She wasn't you, Brookie."

"Yep, we're going. Bye, Josh," Brooke said quickly, waving to the gay guy she'd been talking to across the aisle.

"Stay safe, take care of her," he called after her as she pulled Chloe up and helped her slog out.

There had been too many margaritas that tasted like green Jolly Ranchers and red Starbursts, too much strawberry wine, too many different drinks, too many girls, and none of them were Brooke, and yet Brooke was right there, in the driver's seat, and so was Brooke's nice navy blue skirt with the red poppies and the gray button-down shirt tied up by her bra, showing her nice stomach. She had a nice stomach too, with a two-pack. But Brooke's was soft.

_Where was she?_

"I'm right here, Chlo," Brooke quietly reassured her, turning on the music, letting Glinda The Good lament quietly, almost silently, about her love life in the background.

"I'm so drunk, Brookie," she slurred.

Brooke giggled. "Yeah, you are. Here we are, Billings Montana Walmart."

The bright lights of the parking lot hurt her eyes and head, and then they were parked in a relatively dark spot, and Brooke turned off the car and locked it and put up the sun shades and helped her climb into the bed in the back and take off her red bra.

"You feeling okay?"

"I feel drunk."

"Go to sleep, babe, you'll feel better in the morning. A hand pushed up her blue shirt and a pair of lips planted a kiss on her stomach muscles.

"Brookie-"

"Shhh. Go to sleep, I'm not trying to get it on."

Another kiss, this one to her temple, and two hands reaching around her middle and hugging her gently.

* * *

Brooke woke to feel gentle tugging at her hair, and when she opened her eyes and looked up, there was Chloe, French braiding her hair.

"Hey," Chloe said softly.

"Hey. You feel okay?"

"Yeah, I took an aspirin. Hold your head still."

* * *

 

" _That's_ what you're wearing to prom?" Jeremy exclaimed.

It was a Saturday (grilled cheese, courtesy of her mom) and she'd invited Michael and Jeremy over as the study group for her prom dress.

It was yellow, with a nice bodice with some parts see-through, a long, not tulle skirt that dusted the floor, with a slit for easy running.

"It's that bad, isn't it?" Brooke grimaced.

"No, no, no, it's nice, I was just surprised at the colour. I thought you'd have gone for something blue or yellow," Jeremy explained quickly. "But this suits you."

"That hairstyle though, I think you need some sort of updo," Michael suggested.

"Michael, I've been painting, I always wear a ponytail while painting," Brooke said.

"And you need some sort of flats, instead of Vans," Jeremy said. "I have a pair of white ones at home, my mom bought them for me when I was ten to 'grow into.' Do you wear a size eight?"

"White would be nice, and I wear a seven and a half, but I think an eight would work. Like I said, I've been painting."

"Do you know what Chloe's wearing to prom?" Michael asked.

"Um... no."

"Shit, Brooke! What if she got the same dress, or something else yellow or just something that didn't even go with your dress?" Michael exclaimed.

"Damn, is it really that important?"

"Yes, it is. Very. What if she's wearing a mermaid dress and thought you were gonna, too?" Jeremy pointed out.

"Guys, I'm stressed out enough about this thing, but thanks for the extra reason to be worried! You guys are the best," she said, exasperated.

"Sorry. Your dress is really pretty, though. It suits you."

* * *

 

"We need to start knocking states out a little slower," Chloe said from the passenger seat. "We need to get to Portland on the 29th, which shouldn't be a problem, but we've gotta be back in New Jersey by the fifteenth of next month, and if we knock out a state a day until then, we'll be back home early.

"How early?"

"Before the fifteenth. I think the thirteenth, because we have 24 states left, not including D.C."

"What's wrong with that? Christine will be home on the eighteenth, and Michael will be home on the twelfth, it gives us a little extra time to hang out with friends before school starts."

"Yeah, but... I'm having fun, and... I wanna spend more time with you. We're going into our senior year, we'll have ten months before we have to go our seperate ways."

"Ohh, Chlo, is this... last night?"

"Yeah. I had fun, but then I was drunk, and the girls were cute, but they weren't you, and... I wanna have every moment with you I can."

Brooke reached over between the seats and grabbed Chloe's shoulder, squeezing it gently and comfortingly. "Don't worry, Chlo. We'll take a few extra days in Portland and San Francisco, maybe. I have a cousin in Vancouver, too, and if we've got our passports, we could go back up on the 30th, stay a couple days at her house."

"Vancouver... Canada?"

"Yep!"

"That would be really cool, I think."

Just then, Chloe's phone vibrated, and she took it out of the grey cardigan she was wearing (Brooke's.)

Christine Canigula would like to FaceTime

"Chris is trying to FaceTime us!" She cried excitedly.

"Thought she couldn't do that in China?" Brooke wondered.

"No, she's got T-Mobile, it bypasses the Chinese firewall. Service is shit out here though."

"Answer her, though! Jesus!"

Chloe giggled and tapped the green phone icon, and a couple seconds later, a very fuzzy Christine appeared.

"Hey, Chrissy!"

"Hi, Chloe, where are you guys?"

Her voice was staticky and garbled and off, but she was definitely there.

"Somewhere in Montana. You don't sound good."

"Just trying to be quiet, it's 11 PM over here. Plus, I have a little cold."

"You should be in bed, then. Here, imma put you up you can see both of us," Chloe said, sticking her phone to the mount on the windshield, adjusting it a bit. Brooke smiled and waved to Christine, but kept her eyes on the road.

"Oh, that's so much better. I wouldn't have called you all so late, but I'm having a bit of a breakdown right now?" It sounded more like a question than a statement.

"What's wrong?" Brooke asked.

"My little cousins, Zhi Ruo, Mou Chou, Ying Yue, Bao Chao, Fa Cong, Guo Hai, and Lei Qi... they all speak such nice Chinese, so well and fluently. Mou Chou loves Chinese picture books and writing in Chinese and here I am, twelve years older than her, struggling with it. They can be talking to my parents at a mile a minute and I won't understand anything but a few words. People have to speak a little slower than usual for me to understand."

"Christine..." Chloe sighed. "Remember prom night? When you went with that girl from Chinese club and you were just talking on the bleachers for hours on end and all in Mandarin?"

* * *

Brooke had been extremely worried for about five minutes, and then she'd called Chloe, who said she was going to wear a green dress.

It was a pretty dress, too, two-piece, mint green, and no tulle. Jenna was going with a girl she'd met over Twitter and wearing a grey suit with a purple bow tie, the girl wearing a wine red number with a sweetheart neckline, Jeremy and Michael were wearing matching suits, Jake was wearing an emerald green dress with a plunge neckline, Rich an.... _interesting_ light blue suit, and Christine, with a girl from her Chinese Club, had the most amazing dress of all.

With a low a-line neckline, it had a light blue bodice and a flowing tulle gown with flowers adorning it, and a cape of the same material with those flowers as well. She looked like Elsa, and she looked amazing.

And so did Chloe. And Jenna, and a bunch of other girls, but sadly, no matter how amazing Christine's dress was, Chloe was the prettiest. No questions asked, thank you oh so much for your wrong opinion, now go away so she can slow dance with her girlfriend in the back of the room to Ice-T.

* * *

"Yeah, I remember that. It was fun. She was cool, too," Christine said slowly. 

"You guys were talking really fast. And you never stumbled on your words. You were great, Christine, and I'm sure that you're just as good in China. Trust me, girl, you're great in Mandarin," Chloe said.

"You really do think so?" Christine asked.

"Believe me, Christine, you're pretty great with Mandarin," Brooke said, backing Chloe up. "Or believe Chloe. Or both of us, that's even better." 

"Thanks, both of you."

"No problem, Chris."

* * *

 

Brooke snuggled into Chloe's side in the back of the van, light pouring in from the light poles littering the Walmart parking lot in Southern Deleware, the last stop before getting back to Middleborough, just a three and a half hour drive away. Brooke was  tired, Chloe was tired, and one more night cuddling? That's something they couldn't pass up. Plus, it was one AM, go figure.

Brooke hadn't bothered to braid her hair like she usually did, so she had messy, tangled blonde hair flowing around her, some of it ending up in Chloe's face.

Chloe, for her part, didn't mind, she was a bit too tired to care anyway. She had one arm around Brooke's waist and another was behind Brooke's neck, both gently hugging her and bringing Brooke's head into her collarbone. Her hair was pulled away from her face in her usual nightly bun, a cobalt blue buff headband keeping her curls in place, still frizzy from the humidity of the South. 

Brooke's right arm was flung across Chloe's middle, and another rested on top of the sheets of that platform bed, in the back of Brooke's car. 

Tomorrow they'd be back in Middleborough, the New Jersey late summer heat, Jeremy, Michael, and everyone else. It would be good to be back, but sad for the trip to finally be over. 

But they'd cherish this trip as a  ~~peaceful~~ fun summer, an adventure, the time of their lives. And all in the cursed United States! Who'd have thought? 

**Author's Note:**

> \- Iowans don't @ me
> 
> \- This only took a month no I'm fiiiine
> 
> \- There was gonna be more (also I can't type more without autocorrect capitalising it, thanks Joe Iconis) but the draft was going to be deleted soon and I was so done with this. But it was fun for a bit before I reached that point, and this is the official fic that will put BMC at the top of my list. 
> 
> HOWEVER as of 10/12/18 I've decided to edit/add more, including Brooke's convo with Josh The Gay Guy, the Pride parade in Portland, the Vancouver stay and the Canadian friend, California, the trip back through the west, DC, NYC, and the homecoming reception. It'll take me awhile because I'm working on two Big Bang projects (one for DEH and one for BMC) and planning my Nano novel (it's gonna be a sapphic fantasy novel with a genderfluid protag) And, I will save the original version, and after I'm done editing, I might let people read it if you're into that.
> 
> \- Jenna is a butch lesbian don't @ me
> 
> \- Brooke's prom dress:  
> https://dzasv7x7a867v.cloudfront.net/product_photos/38132574/48_original.jpg
> 
> \- Chloe's prom dress: http://www.pizzaromalincoln.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/seafoam-green-dress-seafoam-green-prom-dress-with-lace-2016-2017-b2b-fashion-550-x-723-pixels.jpg
> 
> \- Christine's prom dress: https://www.dhresource.com/0x0s/f2-albu-g4-M01-CA-33-rBVaEVfT0O2AQ8CCAAFrtvlR22I886.jpg/incroyable-bleu-clair-femmes-robes-formelles.jpg
> 
> \- The Spanish is entirely google translate shit, PLEASE correct it if you know the language!!!
> 
> \- I need to add the translations, don't I. Well, I'm working on it, kiddos.


End file.
